The Night Galadriel's Favorite Dress Was Stolen
by ChrissieV82
Summary: What started out to be a nice evening in Caras Galadhon turns into a frantic search for a dress which is missing...or is it?


Title: The Night Galadriel's Favourite Dress Was Stolen

Genre: Humor

Rating: PG at the most

Cast: Celebrían, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, Surprise, some OC's

Setting: Caras Galadhon, Lothlórien

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JRRT, everything else belongs to me!

Summary: What started out to be a nice evening in Caras Galadhon turns into a frantic search for a dress which is missing…or is it?

**A/N:** This is a short piece I wrote for this yearsHL Group Writing Competition. This could be considered AU but more to that in the A/N at the end. Any more here would spoil the story. Enjoy!

**The Night Galadriel's Favourite Dress Was Stolen**

It was a lovely evening, the nicest weather and moreover it was quiet. Only here and there a few elves could be seen taking a walk, sitting upon the soft grass talking or simply watching the stars shining through the foliage of the trees. Soft singing was heard from somewhere in the city increasing the peacefulness of the evening.

On her way to her parents talan Celebrían smiled. It had been too long since she had been here last, since she had walked the paths of the city of Caras Galadhon in Lothlórien, the fairest of all elven dwellings in Middle-Earth. She loved every blade of grass, every twig, each and every flower of it and always would. But what she loved most about her visit was that she could share it with her own family, all of them.

Not once had she regretted her decision to marry Lord Elrond of Imladris, to leave Lothlórien to be with him. Imladris was a beautiful place but Lothlórien would always hold that special place in her heart, home. She was home.

As soon as she had climbed but a few of the steps leading to her parents' private quarters she felt a change in the atmosphere. Before it had been quiet, peaceful, even lazy, it now was the exact opposite. When she reached the lowest part of the talan she halted in mid-step, more than surprised. Several ellyn and ellith were running to and fro, checking every edge and angle, moving furniture aside obviously searching for something. Hectic, frantic were the first words that crossed Celebrían's mind.

And that in the chambers of her mother who was as cool as a cucumber, at least most of the time.

Coming out of her shock she stopped one of the many ellith and asked for an explanation. The young female just shrugged.

"We were told to look for a dress. That is all I know, my Lady," she replied and with a slight courtesy went about her business again. Celebrían blinked, watched her walk away and blinked again.

"A dress?" she asked aloud but no one in particular. A missing dress could cause such…mayhem? Among elves? She did not get it. It would just not sink in. Had she missed something?

With a shake of her head she started to make her way over to another set of stairs. It turned out to be no easy task; more like an obstacle course than anything else. After bumping into at least two elves and dodging the double amount of the same she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. And even here the chaos ceased little, if at all. Several more elves knelt on different parts of the stairs scrutinising even the smallest nook and cranny; it was ridiculous.

Somehow managing to edge around the kneeling elves and up the steps – she later could not recall how she did it – she emerged to the second level of the talan.

Here, nearer to her mothers' chambers, it was even more chaotic if that was at all possible and the whole situation became rather dramatic as loud wailing rang through the air, closely followed by heavy sobbing.

Celebrían followed the sound (which was quite an act considering the amount of other noises in the room) and in a niche came upon three ellith. One was sitting on the floor, hands on her face which were in turn resting on her knees and her small frame shook with sobs. The other two knelt to either side of the crying female speaking quietly, trying to calm and comfort her.

Her presence was noticed and one of the three stood, dropped into a courtesy. Once again Galadriel's daughter asked for an explanation, completely at a loss and nearing the end of her patience. The standing female was about to reply when all attention went back to the crying elleth, only she was not crying anymore. She had lifted her head and stared fearfully at Celebrían, eyes wide, mouth agape. It was not possible to tell if she was still breathing or not.

"She knows." The words came out in a hiss and were the only ones she spoke before jumping to her feet and running from them. The standing elleth set after her at once which left Celebrían alone with the female still kneeling.

That was the final straw. The daughter of the Lady of Lothlórien had had far more than enough. She wanted to know what all this was about, immediately. Searching but not finding any words she yelled the first thing that came to her: "Madhouse!"

When she thought about it now she knew it had been as ridiculous as the whole event but it described the situation accurately.

The kneeling elleth quickly got up and after a small courtesy asked: "My Lady?"

"I want to know what is going on. Why has the whole household of my parents gone mad? And this…young thing…what? What?" Celebrían shook her head and gesticulated wildly, not knowing what else to say. Her opposite remained silent, possibly thinking her the mad one. Galadriel's daughter took several deep, calming breaths trying to regain her composure. If there was anything she had inherited from her mother it was the 'to be as cool as a cucumber' part. But even she had limitations to her endurance.

With another deep breath she started anew: "All I wanted was to see my father and mother. But when I arrived here all I got was a bunch of hectic elves running wild, pushing furniture around and all because a stinking dress is missing?" There. That was better. Finally a coherent question.

At her words the younger elleths' eyes widened in shock.

"But my Lady, it is not one stinking dress – to use your words," she exclaimed. "It is the Lady Galadriel's favourite dress!"

It was Celebrían's eyes that widened this time, though not in shock but in surprise. Her mother had a favourite dress? Well, fine. But where did all of this fit together?

"Please, start from the beginning. I…I do not understand anything at all."

The other nodded and took a deep breath.

"Varne - that is the elleth who just ran away – is still young and has not been here for long. She was very excited that the Lady asked her to take care of her dresses after such a short time because to us it is an honour to do so. Well, everything went smoothly until about an hour ago when Varne noticed that a dress was missing. And to her horror exactly the one of which the Lady had said it was her favourite. She now fears that if the Lady finds out she will have to leave. Therefore the chaos, my Lady," she finished.

Celebrían stared, open-mouthed, once more at a loss for words. This was more than ridiculous. Her mother did not dismiss someone from their duty because of a missing dress, did she?

A question still remained though and she was eager to find out so she asked: "Which dress is it we are talking about?"

Nothing, simply nothing could have prepared her for the answer she received: "The white one." This was it. On its own her body started to shake with silent laughter which got louder and louder. She could not be serious. If there was anything her mother favoured it was the colour white, so presumably most of her clothing would have to be white. This was downright absurd. Celebrían staggered back against the wall, not able to control the laughter and sank to the floor clutching her sides.

The younger one stared at her a rather shocked and somewhat hurt expression on her face until she noticed her mistakes.

"Oh," she said. "Oh, oh." And she too started to laugh. And that was the most absurd scene of the whole evening: two hysterically laughing ellith sitting on the floor amidst a dozen or more other elves still running, displacing cupboards and chairs, searching. And all because of a stinking dress.

---

_**Meanwhile, in one of the guest talans**_

Elrond had just settled into a chair with a book and a glass of wine as there was a knock on the door. With a sigh he stood and walked over to open the door. A surprised look crossed his face as he saw who the visitor was.

"Galadriel – please, come in," he said and motioned with his hand, indicating for her to take a seat which she did.

"Would you like a glass of wine?"

"That would be lovely, Elrond. Thank you," the Lady replied with a smiled. The Lord of Imladris acknowledged it with a nod and a short while later returned and handed his mother-in-law the wineglass. He took his seat once again and smiled.

"If you came to see Celebrían – she left some time ago to find you in your talan." Galadriel nodded.

"Yes, I thought so. We were to meet shortly after sundown but as it is I was held up in another meeting. Celeborn should find her if she is still there and let her know I am here," she replied. A silence followed, both sipped their wine.

"How is the small one?" the Lady eventually asked. "Asleep, I guess?" Elrond nodded and chuckled.

"Yes, finally. It was quite the task to get her to bed in the first place." Another smile graced the Lady's face.

"That I believe. After all it is her first visit here and there is a lot to see." Elrond agreed with a nod.

"It is. But it is nothing compared to Elladan and Elrohir. If it had not been either Celebrían or I in their room until they were really asleep they would not have stayed put for their lives."

Both chuckled as they remembered the twins as elflings. What havoc they had caused; the mischief they always seemed to be up to…

They fell into companionable silence, lost in reverie and started as the door burst open. A very flushed looking Celebrían walked in followed closely by none other than her father, Celeborn. He closed the door behind them then found his wife's eyes.

"Do you know that our household as gone completely mad over a missing dress?"

Several things now happened at once: Celebrían had another fit of laughter, Elrond sprang to his feet both confused and concerned, demanding to know what had happened to his wife and Galadriel sat unmoving in her chair, first confused but slowly connecting what must have happened – well, nearly so anyway.

"Oh my," was all she could say before another person entered the room but from inside the talan, probably wakened by the rather loud laughter of Celebrían.

"Nana? Ada?" And after a short pause: "Grandpa? Grandma?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to a small, dark-headed and very sleepy looking elleth, wearing a white, flowing gown several sizes too big for her.

"Why are you laughing, Nana?" little Arwen asked and yawned. "You woke me up." Celebrían could not answer as her laughter increased once more and all the pieces came together in her mind. Yet, it did not last long. At once she composed herself, went over to her daughter and knelt in front of her.

"You took Grandma's dress honey? Without asking? That is not right. If you want something you have to ask for it first," she gently but firmly told her.

"But…,"

"No buts, sweetling. You took something which does not belong to you, now…," a throat being cleared interrupted her. All turned to Galadriel, a questioning look on each face.

"The fault is mine, Celebrían. I gave Arwen that dress, didn't I sweetling?" she asked and smiled at the small female who nodded her head.

"Yeth, you did." And turning back to her mother she said: "I told Grandma that thhe alwayth looked tho pretty and I wanted to look pretty too becauthe the other elflingth thay I don't look like a princeth but I want to and…." Celebrían smiled at her young daughter and stopped her prattle by hugging her.

"I am sorry, Arwen. If grandma gave you that dress all is well." As an afterthought she added: "Well, almost all." With an amused look she faced her mother once again: "If you gave Arwen the dress and she did not simply take it…why then are your handmaidens in a mad rush to find this dress?"

Galadriel pursed her lips rather sheepishly and a twinkle in her eyes hinted at the amusement she actually felt.

"I must have forgotten to mention it to the elleth in charge of my clothes," she explained. Celebrían burst out laughing once more, Celeborn grinned and said: "That I live to see the day my precious wife forgets something!" and Elrond stood rather dumbfounded not exactly sure yet of what was going on. He therefore took his daughter from his wife's arms and left the room to put her to bed once more. Celebrían would tell him the whole story later that night.

Celebrían, once more controlling her laughing fit, accompanied her parents to the door and bid them good night. Upon reaching the ground Celeborn turned to his wife and asked: "Your age is finally catching up with you, is it?" She laughed and took his pro-offered arm.

"You could be right about that, my love but I suggest a look in the mirror yourself," she replied jokingly. He squeezed her hand with his free one, a smile still on his lips and together they made their way to their talan. They had a 'searching party' to break up.

**The End**

**- - - -**

**A/N 2:** A few things to be cleared up. I put the AU warning in because of the reaction of the OC Varne and the frantic searching for the dress. I don't exactly think elves would react that way but it was fun to make it up! Another thing about Arwen: the 'th' instead of 's' is simply indicating a lisp which is another thing rather unlikely with elves but it fit so perfectly with lil' Arwen. I hope the goal to make at least one of you laugh with this story has been achieved. Thank you for reading. Any feedback is very welcome.


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